The Arizona sentinel., 1887-11-05

feet and then fish, athlete and ali went backward among the tinkers. Man, fish, oars and bailers were mixed up for a moment At last the Swan nah "hcfter' made break for the dock, and. once upon it, sank down upon pile of boards. H. was as white as a sheet and was covered with scale; from head to foot.
 Send for a doctorr' he gasped, as the men crowded around.
 Why? Whats the matter with you any way?'
 live had stroke" whispered the victim. "The moment l stopped to lift it, I felt it a runuin' al over me. It's in our family; but I've gotit bad, :" and here he rubbed his arms and legs. 1t knocked me clean off my feet" he added, "and my limbs felt like sticks. Send" and here q roar of laughter broke from the men. and one of them, soizing him by the arms, jerkeI him to his feet
 You're all right. my lad; only next time don't go fooling around old Amos. He's a hard nut. "
 Here's yer money, sonny" said the old man, hol ling out bill. You ve earned it.
 What do you mean?" gasped the athlete.
 "What do you mean? Why. jest this: Yer haven't had a shock of paralysis. Yer tried 10 heft one of these durned torpeders. They'll knock a mule down if yer gives 'em the chance"
 The athlete looked vacanuy ahead, took back his money and left amid the renewed laughter of the crowd.
 He'll have yarn to tell the Savan- nah folks. :" said the perpetrator of the joke. but 1 do hate 10 hear man blow and thought I'd take him down. Injured? N, sir-ee. He'll feel stiff for an hour or So, but it won't hurt him. I've been struck by them one hundred times, and it's no fun, I can tell yer. It's just like being struck by mild stroke of lightning. 1 don't generally touch lem, but man gave me one dollar to fetch one in, so I kept it in the boat. They'll shock you right through the net. When was a-haul- ing in the tinker seine this morning I knowed had shock-fsh from the jerking of my arms. The shocks come right up the wet cording, so that some- times you can't hang on anyhow. I've seen man who stuck one with an iron harpoon. thinking it skate. knocked down so quick he didn't know what hit him.
 You remember old Curt, that used to do the chores around here ten years ago? He lived on rum; he'd do any thing for it. Well, Pcrce Ha ldoa put up big job on him onco. He'd had the jtm-jams and hs'd sworn off any quantity of times, but always got back again. He was just getting over a spree when Perc, came along with q shock fish. Old Cart ha never seen one before, So Perce walks up and says: Curt where can 1 get this fish cleaned9 What's It worth? says Curt. Well, half dollar, I reckon. says Percc. TH draw it my self. says the oil nigycr. Go ahead. says Pcrce,-and tho old man fetched out his big case knife and began, two or three of the boys gathering round. You ain't so stea ly a5Tve seen you, Curt, says P5rce, nearly bursting a-laughing, for as soon as the old man touched the fish his arm shol out, so that the knife flew about three feet. H. didn't say any thing, but picked the knife up and iabbed it iu,o the fish again. You have thought he was making passes like a slcight-of- f-hand chap; his hands jerked this way and that, and the sweat rollcl down off his face lik3 rain. At last he dropped her, and sat right down on inc grass and says: 'Perce, give me something to steady my nerves; I've got 'em again. We'll, old Curt never heard the last of that, ansl I never saw him drink afterwards.
 What's the use of tho shocks? Why, reckon they kill fish with em or drive lem off"
 The latter assumption is probably correct. The electric apparatus of the torpedo fish is its defcns and is cer- tainly good one. Its electric organs have been compared to the voltaic pile, and consist of two series of layers of hexagonal cells, the inter vening spaces between the plates being filled with trembling, jelly-like substance, so that each cell can be compared to the Leyden jar. Each torpedo carries about 4SO of these batteries, the whole being equal in power to about fifteen Levden jars, making $500 square inches charged 10 the highest degree The upper side of the fish is positive, the lower negative. the shocks evidently being entirely at the will of the strange electrician. The torpedo is met with frequently along the Atlantic coast, especially along the Georgia portion of it.
 A naturalist once made some inter- esting experiments, one of which was tie application of the telephone to a torpedo, to sec if the shock gave an audible sound. Such proved to be the case, a short, low creak accompany ing moderate excitement the dis charge lasting about one-fi fifteenth of a